October 29, 2009

Harness Your Chi

Nice article on Novak in the Independent. Some interesting stuff on his new coaching situation and his thoughts on regaining his #3 ranking from Muzzard.

This, in particular, seemed promising:

Martin's influence, as a thoughtful coach and a
cool head, has probably been even more significant. Djokovic, a
forceful and demonstrative character, may not be the easiest of men to
coach. He has had a knack for rubbing up tennis people the wrong way,
upsetting some with his mid-match retirements and calls to the trainer
and others with his impressions of fellow players. When does
self-confidence become arrogance?

For all his
ability to entertain crowds – witness his hilarious jousting with John
McEnroe at the US Open last month – Djokovic can also turn the public
against him. Twelve months earlier he had incurred the New York crowd's
wrath with ill-judged criticisms of Roddick.

So
how has Martin helped? "He obviously brings his great knowledge and
experience – and great calmness," Djokovic said. "He's a very positive
person and that's what I like. Before the US Open we had lots of time
on the tennis court. We put a lot of work into it. I'm a temperamental
player. I show my emotions, even in practice.

"When
I get frustrated I throw my racket. Then I look at Todd and I'm kind of
scared about what his reaction might be, what he's going to say. But he
always says: 'The shot you made before the mistake was good. So keep it
going.' He always tries to find the positive in everything. I think
that's a great thing about him. He's going to bring a lot of freshness
to the team."

Then again, I get very torn when I read about Nole learning to control his emotions. I like my Serbs a little on the cray-cray side.

Comments

Nice article on Novak in the Independent. Some interesting stuff on his new coaching situation and his thoughts on regaining his #3 ranking from Muzzard.

This, in particular, seemed promising:

Martin's influence, as a thoughtful coach and a
cool head, has probably been even more significant. Djokovic, a
forceful and demonstrative character, may not be the easiest of men to
coach. He has had a knack for rubbing up tennis people the wrong way,
upsetting some with his mid-match retirements and calls to the trainer
and others with his impressions of fellow players. When does
self-confidence become arrogance?

For all his
ability to entertain crowds – witness his hilarious jousting with John
McEnroe at the US Open last month – Djokovic can also turn the public
against him. Twelve months earlier he had incurred the New York crowd's
wrath with ill-judged criticisms of Roddick.

So
how has Martin helped? "He obviously brings his great knowledge and
experience – and great calmness," Djokovic said. "He's a very positive
person and that's what I like. Before the US Open we had lots of time
on the tennis court. We put a lot of work into it. I'm a temperamental
player. I show my emotions, even in practice.

"When
I get frustrated I throw my racket. Then I look at Todd and I'm kind of
scared about what his reaction might be, what he's going to say. But he
always says: 'The shot you made before the mistake was good. So keep it
going.' He always tries to find the positive in everything. I think
that's a great thing about him. He's going to bring a lot of freshness
to the team."

Then again, I get very torn when I read about Nole learning to control his emotions. I like my Serbs a little on the cray-cray side.